Privacy Policy

We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

Everyone has rights with regard to the way in which their personal information is handled. During the course of our activities we will collect, store and process personal information about our customers, suppliers and other third parties, and we recognise that the correct and lawful treatment of this data will maintain confidence in the organisation and will provide for successful business operations.

This policy sets out the basis on which any personal information we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal information and how we will treat it.

Under the Data Protection Act 2018, the data controller is TSF Assessors Limited of The Chapel, Brimscombe Port Business Park, Brimscombe, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG (collectively referred to as “TSF”, “we”, “us”, or “our” in this privacy notice).

DATA PROTECTION PRINCIPLES

When processing your information, we must comply with the six enforceable principles of good practice. These provide that your personal information must be:

• processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner,
• processed for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes,
• adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary,
• accurate and kept up to date,
• kept for no longer than is necessary, and
• processed in a manner than ensures appropriate security.
  INFORMATION YOU GIVE TO US

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal information about you, including:

• Identity Data, such as your name, marital status, title, date of birth, gender,
• Contact Data, such as your address, email address and telephone numbers,
• Financial Data, such as bank account and payment card details,
• Health Data, such as your GP records and medical history, details of any medical treatment you may be receiving, details of previous medical or psychiatric assessments and copies of any reports,
• Transaction Data, including details about payments to and from you, and other details of products and services you purchase from us,
• Technical Data, including IP addresses, your log-in data, browser type and version, time-zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access our website,
• Usage Data, including information about how you use our website, products and services, and
• Mark Data, such as your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties, and your communication preferences.

‘SPECIAL CATEGORY’ DATA

Information relating to your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health, criminal convictions, sex life or sexual orientation, or certain types of genetic or biometric data is known as ‘special category’ data.

This is most likely to occur, for example, if we are instructed to carry out a mental capacity assessment on you and we require the information to assist us in our evaluation and report.

HOW WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may obtain personal information by directly interacting with you, such as when you:

• complete an enquiry form on our website,
• complete a referral form on our website,
• send us your medical documents or other personal information, directly or via your solicitors or authorised nominee, with a view to instructing us to carry out a mental capacity assessment,
• instruct us, directly or via your solicitors or authorised nominee, to conduct a mental capacity assessment,
• attend an appointment with one of our assessors to undertake a mental capacity assessment,
• subscribe to our services or publications, or otherwise requesting marketing material to be sent to you,
• give us your business card, or
• correspond with us by phone, email, letters or otherwise.

We may obtain personal information via automated technology when you interact with our website by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies.

We may also collect personal information about you from third parties or publicly available sources, such as:

• analytics providers (such as Google),
• search information providers
• providers of technical, payment and delivery services,
• local authorities and social workers,
• care homes and other health care providers, and
• your GP or medical practice.

HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We will only use your personal information when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal information in the following circumstances:

• you have given us consent,
• we need to perform a contract we are about to enter into, or have entered into, with you,
• where it is necessary for our or a third party’s legitimate interests, and your interests and rights do not override those interests, or
• where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
  We will only use ‘special category’ information:
• provided we have your explicit consent to use it,
• where we believe that we need to use that data to protect your vital interests where you are not able to provide us with your explicit consent,
• where it is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest,
• where you have previously made that data public knowledge,
• where it is necessary for the purposes of preventative or occupational medicine, medical diagnosis, providing health or social care or treatment, or pursuant to a contract with a health professional, or
• if we need to use that data to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

PURPOSES FOR WHICH WE WILL USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may use your personal information for a number of different purposes. For each purpose, we are required to confirm the ‘legal basis’ that allows us to use your information, as follows:

We will only use your personal information for the purpose(s) for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your personal information for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your personal information without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

WHAT IF YOU CANNOT OR WILL NOT PROVIDE US WITH YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

It is a contractual requirement for you to provide us with certain information, namely the nature and purpose of the assessment requested as well as identity and contact details for the person undergoing the assessment. If you do not provide us with that information, we will be unable to accept your instructions and deliver the services to you.

COOKIE POLICY

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our website. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive.

Our website only uses third party analytical and performance cookies. Specifically, we use a third party tracking cookie. This allows us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.

Please note that other third parties (including, for example, advertising networks and providers of external services like web traffic analysis services) may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical/performance cookies or targeting cookies.

You can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our website.

DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INFORMATION

We may share your personal information with the parties set out below:

• the Court of Protection in circumstances where we have a legal duty to do so,
• your GP, social care worker, and (in some instances) the police, in circumstances where we have concerns for your welfare,

• your solicitor or personal representative,
• providers of IT and system administration services to our business, including One Drive, Xero Accounting Software, Workbooks CRM Software, DocSafe and other online cloud providers,
• our professional advisers (including solicitors, bankers, auditors and insurers),
• HM Revenue & Customs, the Information Commissioner’s Office, regulators and other authorities who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances,
• analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our website, and
• third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal information in the same way as set out in this policy.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal information and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal information for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal information for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

WHERE WE STORE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers in the United Kingdom.

We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely, including taking the following safeguards:

• Secure lockable desks and cupboards. Desks and cupboards are kept locked when not in use if they hold confidential information of any kind.
• Methods of disposal. Paper documents are disposed of by shredding in a manner that ensures confidentiality.
• Firewalls and Encryption. We use industry standard firewall protection and encryption technology.
• All computer devices that hold personal information are password protected. All of our mobile devices are equipped with software which is able to remotely delete data in the event of the device being lost or stolen.
• Overseas transfers. We do not transfer any personal data overseas.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our website; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

HOW LONG WE WILL STORE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

The length of time that we will store your data will depend on the ‘legal basis’ for why we are using that data, as follows:

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature and sensitive of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal information, the purposes for which we process your personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

YOUR RIGHTS

You have various legal rights in relation to the information you give us, or which we collect about you, as follows:

• You have a right to access the information we hold about you free-of-charge, together with various information about why and how we are using your information, to whom we may have disclosed that information, from where we originally obtained the information and for how long we will use your information.
• You have the right to ask us to rectify any information we hold about you that is inaccurate or incomplete.
• You have the right to ask us to erase the information we hold about you (the ‘right to be forgotten’). Please note that this right can only be exercised in certain circumstances and, if you ask us to erase your information and we are unable to do so, we will explain why not.
• You have the right to ask us to stop using your information where: (i) the information we hold about you is inaccurate; (ii) we are unlawfully using your information; (iii) we no longer need to use the information; or (iv) we do not have a legitimate reason to use the information. Please note that we may continue to store your information; or use your information for the purpose of legal proceedings; or for protecting the rights of any other person.

• You have the right to ask us to transmit the information we hold about you to another person or company in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. Please note that this right can only be exercised in certain circumstances and, if you ask us to transmit your information and we are unable to do so, we will explain why not.
• Where we use/store your information because it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, you have the right to object to us using/storing your information. We will stop using/storing your information unless we can demonstrate why we believe we have a legitimate business interest which overrides your interests, rights and freedoms.
• Where we use/store your data because you have given us your specific, informed and unambiguous consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
• You have the right to object to us using/storing your information for direct marketing purposes.

If you wish to exercise any of your legal rights, please contact our General Manager by writing to the address at the top of this policy, or by emailing us at liz@tsfconsultants.co.uk or info@tsfconsultants.co.uk.

You also have the right, at any time, to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office if you believe we are not complying with the laws and regulations relating to the use/storage of the information you give us, or that we collect about you.

OPTING OUT OF RECEIVING MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

You can ask us to stop sending you marketing communications at any time by contacting our General Manager by writing to the address at the top of this policy, or by emailing liz@tsfconsultants.co.uk or info@tsfconsultants.co.uk.

AUTOMATED DECISION-MAKING

We do not use automated decision-making processes.

THIRD PARTY LINKS

Our website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.

CHANGES TO OUR POLICY

Any changes we make to our policy in the future will be posted on our website and, where appropriate, notified to you by email or via social media. Please check our website frequently to see any updates or changes to our policy.

CONTACT

Questions, comments and requests regarding this policy are welcomed and should be addressed to our General Manager by writing to the address at the top of this policy, or by emailing us at liz@tsfconsultants.co.uk or info@tsfconsultants.co.uk.